Murder She Wrote?
by Parody-of-an-Angel
Summary: Full summary inside - do not read if the thought of GinnyLucius makes your stomach turn!


Summary – Virginia Weasley is the head of the crime and punishment department at the ministry of magic. She and her colleagues are the ones who decide which punishment death eaters get, by reviewing the evidence of the charges against them. Her latest case is Lucius Malfoy.  
  
Pairings – Ginny/Lucius and some Harry/Luna and Ron/Hermione  
  
Disclaimer – I don't own anything but the plot, all the stuff from the books belong to the almighty J.K Rowling *we bow down to you*  
  
A/N – this idea just popped into my head one day, so I figured I'd write it down. First serious HP fic. Just warning you now, I can't do italics, if anyone knows how can they please tell me in a review  
  
A/N2 – what the hell is WIKTT? I probably sound really stupid, but if u know anything about it can you tell me in a review  
  
A/N3 – Flames will be used for the BBQ  
  
PLEASE  
PLEASE  
PLEASE  
PLEASE  
PLEASE  
REVIEW  
BUT  
DON'T  
FLAME  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~Murder she wrote?~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*  
  
22-year-old Virginia Anne Weasley strode swiftly and confidently into her new office, which was already furnished with a smooth oak table, fireplace and black, leather chair. On the floor, there was a velvet rug, laced with intricate designs and the décor was simple, yet elegant. Overall, Ginny was quite satisfied with the spacious room, where she would be spending most of her waking hours. In fact, apart from the colours (green and silver) it was perfect.  
  
With a quick flick of her wand, the walls changed to a fiery red, to go with her hair and a fire crackled to life in the fireplace. Sighing contentedly, she sank into the high backed chair, happy with her life. For the past few years, things had just kept getting better and better for her. She had landed a job at the ministry straight out of Hogwarts; although she had a sneaking suspicion that Dumbledore had something to do with that, and then worked in the department of crime and punishment for four years. A couple of weeks earlier, the head of her department, an aging old wizard had retired and she had been promoted to take his place, making her the first female to ever become head.  
  
Another great thing that had happened was the defeating of Lord Voldemort in the Final Battle, as the Daily Prophet had dubbed it. Hundreds of thousands of witches and wizards had rallied together, including the members of the Order and students from Hogwarts. She herself had played a small role in the final outcome. Harry of course had been the one to cast the killing spell that finally sent Voldemort to his death, but had been gravely injured in the process. Two years later and he had only just fully recovered. Many had perished though and for several months afterwards there had been much mourning of the deceased. Among these regretfully was Cornelius Fudge. A good thing that had come of his death though, was the fact that Dumbledore was now the minister of magic. Minerva McGonagall had taken over as headmistress of Hogwarts.  
  
During these dark times, Ginny had sought comfort in Talia and Reanne, two girls who had also lost friends to Voldemort. They had been one of the things that she clung to along with her family. Without them, she probably would have given up on life itself. Now, years later they were all working together at the Ministry of Magic.  
  
Now the task fell to them to deal out just punishments for the captured death eaters, which they had been doing for the past two years. Most had gotten the death sentence, in return for the murder and torture of hundreds, even thousands of innocent people. It could take from a couple of days to a couple of months before they reached a verdict. Ginny guessed that they had only around another hundred to deal with, before they were done and finished with the whole business.  
  
Checking the time on her watch she realized that it was already 8pm and with a jolt, remembered that she was supposed to be meeting Talia and Reanne at 8:30. Hastily stuffing her wand into her pocket and picking up her bag, she quickly apparated to her small flat to get ready.  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*  
  
Sometime around an hour later, Ginny, Reanne and Talia were seated at the counter of the new nightclub "Something Different". It was opening night and the spacious room was packed with magical beings and muggles alike, with loud music being pumped out of huge speakers lining the walls.  
  
"You know, we should make this a weekly ritual," suggested Ginny, raising her voice so as to be heard above the music. "Something to even out the stress of work."  
  
"I don't know Gin, it would take up a lot of time that could be spent finishing up projects or reading," Talia responded, her face creased in a half frown.  
  
"Sometimes you remind me uncannily of Hermione," laughed Ginny. "You always seem to be either working or have your head buried in some book. In fact, I seem to remember that it took a lot of persuading to even get you to be here tonight."  
  
Talia blushed scarlet and mumbled something along the lines of "I do go out, just not as much as you."  
  
"Well I think it's a great idea!" exclaimed Reanne enthusiastically. "It would be a great means of relaxing from a week of work, assuming that we'd go on a Friday night like tonight."  
  
"That's exactly what I was thinking," Ginny said before turning to Talia and attempting a puppy dog face. "Well, what do you say? Please Tal, pretty please?"  
  
"Fine," Talia grudgingly agreed. "But only if you promise to never try that face again," she smiled.  
  
"All right...I admit it...I can't do the puppy face," said Ginny, in between theatrical sobs.  
  
At that all three succumbed to the temptation to laugh and burst into a fit of childish giggles, causing strangers to stare at them strangely as they passed, which only caused them to laugh harder.  
  
"Can I get you something, or are you just going to sit there all night laughing like maniacs?" questioned the young bar maid, but her smile showed that she wasn't serious.  
  
Slightly frustrated at the fact that they didn't serve butterbeer, Ginny ordered a cocktail, while both her friends ordered martinis, shaken not stirred.  
  
Moving to an unoccupied table, the group sipped their drinks in silence until unable to bear it any longer Reanne spoke up, effectively breaking the silence.  
  
"So, who wants to dance?"  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*  
  
Ginny awoke to the morning light filtering in through her bedroom window and a splitting headache. Sunbeams danced across her face as she slowly sat up, only to experience such a throb in her head that she had to lie down again, squeezing her eyes shut against the light. Realizing with a contented sigh that it was a Saturday and she had every reason to sleep in, she pulled her doona over her head and tried to go back to sleep.  
  
After around 10 minutes of trying, she resigned herself to the fact that she was awake for the day and once again tried to get up. As before, her head experienced splitting pain, making her lie down again.  
  
Finally remembering the fact that she was a fully trained witch, she summoned the most potent hangover potion she knew of from her cupboard with a simple accio, before draining the vile liquid in a single swallow.  
  
Her head starting to clear already, Ginny rose to a sitting position, swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, stretching. Yawning loudly, she realised that she was in the clothes she had worn last night, having been too tired to take them off last night, before falling straight to sleep.  
  
Walking into her bathroom, she quickly peeled off layers of clothing and stepped into the shower. She had always had a strange affiliation with showers and found them to be relaxing, refreshing and a good place for musing. Letting the water caress her aching body, tired from dancing, Ginny pushed all troubling thoughts from her mind and simply enjoyed the cool touch of water on her bare skin.  
  
So immersed was she that she failed to hear the light knocking on the door to her flat. Said knocking grew steadily louder until at last, the sound penetrated the deep recesses of Ginny's mind, effectively jerking her out of the stupor she was in and bringing her back to the present.  
  
Hastily getting out of the shower, she wrapped a fluffy white bathrobe around her, almost tripping over the mat in the process. With dripping hair, she hurried to open the door, as she was sure that they had probably been waiting for quite some time now.  
  
Crossing the distance to the door, she flung it open to see both Reanne and Talia standing there and looking a tad annoyed at having been kept waiting.  
  
"Finally," exclaimed Reanne. "We were just about to let ourselves in to see whether you were dead or not, you took so long answering the door."  
  
"Sorry guys, I was in the shower," admitted Ginny sheepishly, indicating the bathrobe and wet hair.  
  
"We can see that," said Talia. "It's kinda obvious."  
  
"What are you doing here anyways?" asked Ginny.  
  
"Don't tell me you forgot!" Reanne practically screamed  
  
"Errm.... forgot what exactly?" inquired Ginny tentatively.  
  
"Forgot that we have to go to work!" yelled Reanne, trowing up her hands in frustration.  
  
"But its Saturday," protested Ginny, thoroughly confused.  
  
Talia rolled her eyes, a look of exasperation on her face. "We know it's Saturday. Don't you remember Gin, the ministry asked us to work today because there's an overload of death eaters waiting to be given a trial."  
  
Comprehension finally dawned on the young red head's face and she opened her mouth to say something, but Reanne cut her off with an impatient "Hurry up!".  
  
Fleeing to her room, Ginny hurriedly dried herself and her hair before changing into her customary work clothes, a black skirt and white blouse and spelling her hair into a bun with tendrils framing her face. Professional, yet elegant and stylish at the same time. Slipping on her shoes and coat, Ginny glanced in the mirror and satisfied with her appearance raced to her door where Talia and Reanne were waiting for her.  
  
Quickly locking up, they apparated to the practically empty Ministry of Magic and deposited their coats in their private offices, before coming together again at the entrance to their department.  
  
From there they made their way to the Minister's office, where they would be informed of who was up for trial. They would then gather as much information as they could on that particular person, maybe meet with them a couple of times before they were ready to hold the official trial.  
  
Rapping sharply on the polished surface of the door, they entered. Sitting at a desk to their right the secretary, a young witch by the name of Madeline was speaking in a clear voice to a dictating quill, which was scurrying across the parchment writing down her every word. Using a hand signal to indicate that she would be with them in a moment, they simultaneously sat down on a neon green couch.  
  
"Sorry about that," apologised Madeline. "It's just that Dumbledore wants this report by Monday and I'm going to my sister's wedding tomorrow."  
  
"Speaking of Dumbledore, where is he," inquired Ginny politely. "He was supposed to give us the name of the death eater on trial."  
  
"Oh, you're the people from the Crime and Punishment department aren't you?" said Madeline with a note of awe in her voice. "He said that if you came, to wait for him, he just popped out for some more Sherbet Lemons."  
  
At that precise moment Dumbledore swept into his office, in an almost Snape like manner.  
  
"Ah, Ginny, Talia, Reanne, you're here, sorry to keep you waiting" said Dumbledore apologetically. "Have you been awaiting my arrival for long?"  
  
"No problem, we only just got here," explained Talia.  
  
"Nevertheless, take a Sherbet Lemon as my apology," offered Dumbledore, eyes twinkling behind his half moon glasses  
  
They all rose and took one of the muggle sweets offered, which Dumbledore seemed to be so fond of, thanking him.  
  
"You'll be wanting to know whose on trial then?" asked Dumbledore.  
  
"If that's not to much trouble, then yes," replied Reanne, half joking.  
  
"Just stay there, I'll go and check right now," said Dumbledore, walking over to his desk and shuffling through the myriad of parchment cluttering it. Finally finding what he was looking for around 5 minutes later – he wasn't the most organised person, he held the parchment up in triumph. The three friends were used to waiting for him to find stuff though.  
  
"I knew I'd find it sooner or later," he said, handing it to Ginny who slipped it into her pocket and after accepting another Sherbet Lemon each, they left.  
  
It was a tradition of theirs to read out the parchment together in their office and had asked Dumbledore when they first started working here, to refrain from telling any one of them who it was before hand. Today was no different and when they reached their department, they stopped just inside the door and Ginny got out the parchment. Unrolling it, she slowly read out two words that sent shivers down the spines of her colleagues.  
  
"Lucius Malfoy"  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*  
  
A/N4 – Wow, just over 5 pages. Usually my chapters are only around 3. If you don't like it please don't be too harsh as like I said at the beginning this is my first serious HP fic.  
  
A/N5 – just another reminder, if anyone knows about WIKTT, which I'm sure most people do could they tell me about it.  
  
PLEASE  
PLEASE  
PLEASE  
PLEASE  
PLEASE  
REVIEW  
BUT  
DON'T  
FLAME  
  
Take pity on the little button, it's so sad. Go ahead – click it – make its day! 


End file.
